How to Make a Chart or Graph in Excel [With Video Tutorial]

Creating charts and graphs is one of the best ways to visualize data in a clear and easy-to-understand way. (Read this guide to make better charts to learn more.)However, it’s not surprising that some people are a little intimidated by the prospect of poking around Microsoft Excel. (I admit I love Excel, but I work in Marketing Operations so it’s pretty much a requirement that I like the tool).

I thought I’d provide a helpful video tutorial, as well as some step-by-step guides for anyone out there who flinches at the thought of organizing a table of data into a chart that actually, you know, means something.

Here are the simple steps you need to take to make a chart or graph in Excel.

Keep in mind that there are many different versions of Excel, so what you see in the video above may not always exactly match what you will see in your version. In the video I used Excel 2021 version 16.49 for Max OS X.

For the most up-to-date instructions, I recommend that you follow the written instructions below (or download them as PDFs). Most of the buttons and functions displayed and read are very similar in all versions of Excel.

Download demo data | Download instructions (Mac) | Download instructions (PC)

1. Enter your data in Excel.

First you need to enter your data in Excel. You may have exported the data from elsewhere, such as marketing software or a survey tool. Or maybe you enter it manually.

In the example below, I have a list of answers in column A to the question “Has inbound marketing shown the ROI?” And in columns B, C and D the answers to the question “Did your company? Do you have a formal sales-marketing agreement? “For example, column C, row 2 shows that 49% of people with a Service Level Agreement (SLA) also state that inbound marketing has shown ROI.

2. Select from the chart and chart options.

In Excel, your chart and graph options include column (or bar) charts, line charts, pie charts, scatter charts, and more. See how Excel identifies each one in the top navigation bar, as shown below:

To find the chart and chart options, select Insert.

(To find out which type of chart / graph is best for visualizing your data, check out our free e-book How to Use Data Visualization to Win Over Your Audience.)

3. Select your data and insert your desired diagram into the table.

In this example, I’ll use a bar chart to visually represent the data. To create a bar chart, highlight the data and add the X and Y axis titles. Then go to the Insert tab and click the column icon in the Charts section. In the drop-down window that appears, select the graphic you want.

In this example, I’ve chosen the first 2-dimensional column option – just because I prefer the flat bar graph to the 3D look. See the resulting bar graph below.

4. If necessary, switch the data on each axis.

To switch the display on the X and Y axes, right-click the bar chart, click Select Data, and then click Switch Row / Column. This rearranges which axes carry which data in the list shown below. When you’re done, click OK at the bottom.

The resulting diagram would look like this:

5. Customize the layout and colors of your data.

To change the layout of the label and legend, click the bar chart, then click the Chart Design tab. Here you can choose which layout you prefer for the diagram title, the axis title and the legend. In my example shown below, I clicked the option that shows softer bar colors and legends under the chart.

To further format the legend, click it to display the Format Legend Entry sidebar, as shown below. Here you can change the fill color of the legend, which in turn changes the color of the columns themselves. To format other parts of your diagram, click them individually to display a corresponding format window.

6. Change the size of the legend and axis labels on your chart.

When you first create a chart in Excel, the size of your axis and legend labels can be a little small depending on the type of chart or chart you choose (bar, pie, line, etc.). Once you’ve created your diagram, you’ll want to jazz up these labels to make them readable.

To enlarge the labels on your chart, click on them one at a time and, instead of showing a new format window, click back into the Home tab on Excel’s top navigation bar. Then use the font and size drop-down boxes to expand or collapse your chart’s legend and axis labels to your liking.

7. Change the measurement options for the Y-axis, if necessary.

To change the type of measurement displayed on the Y-axis, click the Y-axis percentages on your chart to display the Format Axis window. Here you can decide whether you want to display units, which are located on the Axis Options tab, or whether you want to change whether the Y-axis shows percentages with 2 decimal places or 0 decimal places.

Since my chart automatically sets the Y-axis maximum percentage to 60%, I might want to manually change it to 100% to show my data on a more universal scale. To do this, I can select the Maximum option – two fields under Limits in the “Format Axis” window – and change the value from 0.6 to 1.

The resulting chart would be modified to look like this (I increased the Y-axis font size via the Home tab so you can see the difference):

8. Rearrange your data if necessary.

To sort the data so that respondents’ responses are shown in reverse order, right-click your chart and click Select Data to display the same options window that you accessed in Step 3 above. This time, as shown below, click the up and down arrows to reverse the order of your data on the chart.

If you need to adjust more than two rows of data, you can also rearrange them in ascending or descending order. To do this, highlight all of your data in the cells above your chart, click on Data and select Sort as shown below. You can choose whether you want to sort from the smallest to the largest or from the largest to the smallest, depending on your preference.

The resulting diagram would look like this:

9. Name your graphic.

Now comes the fun and easy part: name your graph. By now you may have figured out how to do it. Here’s a simple clarification.

Immediately after creating your chart, the title displayed will likely be “Chart Title” or something similar, depending on the version of Excel you are using. To change this label, click the Chart Title to display an input cursor. You can then freely customize the title of your diagram.

When you have a title you like, click Home on the top navigation and use the font formatting options to give your title the emphasis it deserves. See these options and my final graphic below:

10. Export your chart or diagram.

Once your diagram or graph is exactly what you want, you can save it as an image without scanning it in the spreadsheet. This method gives you a clean picture of your diagram that can be pasted into a PowerPoint presentation, Canva document, or any other visual template.

To save your Excel chart as a photo, right-click the chart and select Save as picture ….

In the dialog box, name the photo of your diagram, choose a location on your computer, and the type of file you’d like to save it as. In this example, I’ll save it as a JPEG in my desktop folder. Finally click on Save.

You have a clear photo of your chart or graph to add to any visual design.

Visualize data like a pro

That was pretty easy, wasn’t it? With this step-by-step guide, you can quickly create charts and graphs that visualize the most complicated data. Try using this tutorial with different chart types like a pie chart or line chart to see which format best reflects the history of your data. You can even practice customizing more data-intensive graphs and charts by using the following free Excel templates for marketers.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2018 and has been updated for completeness.